The Mikoyan MiG-29K (NATO reporting name: Fulcrum-D) is a Russian all-weather carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft developed by the Mikoyan Design Bureau. The MiG-29K was developed in the late 1980s from the MiG-29M. Mikoyan describes it as a 4+ generation aircraft. Production standard MiG-29Ks differ from prototypes in features such as a multi-function radar and several new cockpit displays; the adoption of HOTAS (hands-on-throttle-and-stick) controls; the integration of air-to-air missiles, along with missiles for anti-ship and anti-radar operations; and several ground/strike precision-guided weapons.
The MiG-29K was not ordered into production and only two prototypes were originally built because the Russian Navy preferred the Su-27K (later re-designated Su-33) in the early 1990s. The MiG-29K programme was revived in response to the decision of the Indian Navy to acquire the former Soviet Navy aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov in 2004. The Russian Navy, with their Su-33s nearing the end of their service lives by 2010, has also ordered the MiG-29K as a replacement. The MiG-29KUB two-seat variant took its first flight on 20 January 2007, followed by the MiG-29K on 25 June 2007.
The 100th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment (Military Unit Number 45782) was a naval aviation regiment of the Soviet Navy and currently is a part of the Russian Navy’s Naval Aviation. For most of its existence, it flew the MiG-29K/KUB L-39 and Su-25 aircraft. It was formed at Saky in the Crimea on 10 March 1986, and five months later, placed under the 39th Control for the Test Training Facility of Shipborne Aviation. In January 1992, many of its personnel, led by regimental commander Lieutenant Colonel Timur Apakidze, refused to take the oath of loyalty to Ukraine. Personnel regrouped at Severomorsk-3 air base, as part of the Northern Fleet.
On 1 December 2015, the 100th KIAP was reformed at the Yeysk air base, Krasnodar Krai and was equipped with 24 MiG-29KR/KUBR carrier-based multi-role fighters, built between 2013-2015. The regiment is also a supplementary unit to the 279th OKIAP at Severomorsk-3 air base, Murmansk Oblast operating the Su-33 carrier-based fighters. By 2016, in line with previous plans, the regiment had been transferred back to the Northern Fleet at Severomorsk-3 on the Kola Peninsula.
